Explosive winter storm hits US But the predicted new storm has led meteorologists to deploy a new term - bomb cyclone

Bitter cold, strong winds and blizzards were expected to hit the Mid-Atlantic States and the Northeast as a powerful winter storm that brought ice, sleet and snow to the Southeast curled northward on Thursday.

A severe winter storm is hitting the eastern US, extending a cold snap that has already claimed 11 lives.

Forecasters say a severe pressure drop will lead to an explosive winter storm along the eastern US, and is already bringing snow to Florida.

The US is currently on its 10th day of record-breaking frigid temperatures which began around Christmas.

The storm, which some meteorologists classified as a “bomb cyclone” for its sharp drop in atmospheric pressure, forced flight cancellations and school closings up and down the East Coast.

New York City was forecast to receive five to eight inches of snowfall, although Queens and neighboring Nassau County could get up to 10 inches, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Maine, with travel “very dangerous to impossible” in the highly populated Hampton Roads region of Virginia, which could receive up to 12 inches of snow in places.

New England is expected to be hit particularly hard, with blizzard conditions beginning on Thursday in parts of Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to forecasters.